Santa Cruz Island
This was our tortoise day on Santa Cruz Island. The morning outing took us to the Galápagos Giant Land Tortoises Rearing Center. We landed at the main pier in the town of Puerto Ayora and after a short walk on the streets of this town, we got to arrive to the site where the Galápagos National Park Service and the Darwin Research Center have been working hand-in-hand for more than 45 years to grow land tortoises in captivity.
One of the most successful programs to grow wild animals in captivity, it has largely succeeded to return several thousand baby land tortoises to their islands of origin. The reason why we are growing these animals in captivity is because they were big victims of whalers, buccaneers and early settlers. Tortoises served them well as food and their blubber was used as oil for their lamps. Many thousands of them were killed and we were lucky enough that some individuals were left so we could start with the rearing program.
It was really interesting to learn from our naturalists all the details of how a tiny tortoise weighing only some few grams as they hatch, turns into a huge animal of about two hundred and fifty kilos!
Puerto Ayora is a little happy town with about 18,000 inhabitants. It has a very interesting human settlement, and we saw some of it our way up to the highlands in the afternoon. The highlight of the afternoon was the marvelous greenery, the cool air up at the highlands of Santa Cruz, whimbrels, common stilts, bahama ducks, cattle egrets and of course the giant land tortoises in the wild.
We spent a lot of time up at the escalecia forest searching for Darwin’s finches and the bright vermillion flycatcher, among other land birds. Plant lovers had a blast walking through the Galápagos daisy forest and learning about the native and endemic plants of the islands. Breathing the fresh green air up in the mountains, listening to the bird songs, and enjoying the silence of nature were definitely other big highlights of our afternoon.
Santa Cruz is a beautiful island with a lot to share.
This was our tortoise day on Santa Cruz Island. The morning outing took us to the Galápagos Giant Land Tortoises Rearing Center. We landed at the main pier in the town of Puerto Ayora and after a short walk on the streets of this town, we got to arrive to the site where the Galápagos National Park Service and the Darwin Research Center have been working hand-in-hand for more than 45 years to grow land tortoises in captivity.
One of the most successful programs to grow wild animals in captivity, it has largely succeeded to return several thousand baby land tortoises to their islands of origin. The reason why we are growing these animals in captivity is because they were big victims of whalers, buccaneers and early settlers. Tortoises served them well as food and their blubber was used as oil for their lamps. Many thousands of them were killed and we were lucky enough that some individuals were left so we could start with the rearing program.
It was really interesting to learn from our naturalists all the details of how a tiny tortoise weighing only some few grams as they hatch, turns into a huge animal of about two hundred and fifty kilos!
Puerto Ayora is a little happy town with about 18,000 inhabitants. It has a very interesting human settlement, and we saw some of it our way up to the highlands in the afternoon. The highlight of the afternoon was the marvelous greenery, the cool air up at the highlands of Santa Cruz, whimbrels, common stilts, bahama ducks, cattle egrets and of course the giant land tortoises in the wild.
We spent a lot of time up at the escalecia forest searching for Darwin’s finches and the bright vermillion flycatcher, among other land birds. Plant lovers had a blast walking through the Galápagos daisy forest and learning about the native and endemic plants of the islands. Breathing the fresh green air up in the mountains, listening to the bird songs, and enjoying the silence of nature were definitely other big highlights of our afternoon.
Santa Cruz is a beautiful island with a lot to share.
